I remember him being offside twice, and the second time Wharton took a long while to get the ball in the channel, the run could've been well timed. He'll always be an inelegant player, but hopeless is way too harsh on today's showing.

Don't for a second think that he'll end up here, but seems a bit strange that West Ham haven't just gone out and signed him if they were genuinely interested. The supposed £1.5 million might be pricing us out of the chase (let's see) but surely that must be small beer for an established top flight team, Covid or no.

Maybe, but there was a missed pen in there and we got into a couple of other good positions that we could've made more from. Only a friendly etc. but I'm reasonably encouraged with that.

They've no U23s, I think. So they either go straight into the first team, or let them go. Think I've read that they were offering him a new deal but covid got in the way.

4-1 Brennan

Dolan looks sharp, nice feet but getting a bit excited when he gets into decent positions. Can definitely see why we've taken a punt on him.

Decent shout! Not sure that Dolan would have expected his first two touches in Rovers colours to go as well.

Chapman looks the best player on the park by a mile, really encouraging. Other than the poor penalty, I think BB has put in a decent showing. Ungainly, but much more of a handful than we ever saw pre-lockdown. Davenport showed some nice touches too.

His crossing hasn't improved much though!

Chapman equalises

Think that tackle on Buckley is given as a pen in a competitive game. Pretty lively for a friendly so far.

Think that would be a move that would suit all parties. As much as he impressed last year, he wasn't at the level that a lower ranking premier league club would risk him as a starter just yet.

Saw that he's going into the last year of his contract, so I expect that he'll either being getting sold (ruling us out) or singing a new deal before he goes on loan.

Our chicken advert was less embarrassing than that

Hoffman goal certainly makes me feel better after seeing his Kanu-esque miss!

Four Four Two agree that we've got a tough start! https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/championship-fixtures-released-efl-first-10-games-toughest-hardest-easiest-opening-matches

Young lad from PNE?

We got Robbo after a similar run, if I recall. Ended up being a good investment for us, but it took him a while to get the errors out of his game (the contrast with 8 years of Brad probably didn't help him either). Sometimes a change of scene can make all the difference though. Gomes at Spurs looked like he'd never kept goal in his life - goes to Watford and he turns into a different player.

It was uncannily like the Enckelman error in fairness. Also makes you think how much a good singing Peter Enckelmen would be in our current situation!

Big caveat to this is that most of those metrics are hugely influenced by both the quality of the league and that Gent were one of the top dogs. Not a criticism though, love that you put these together!

Think that's right, the little whisperings of information we get, whilst appreciated aren't helping with calming the nerves either. I think we've got about 70% of a very decent team at this level, it just so happens that the 30% we don't have leave holes that are so big that they undermine everything else. As @Wing Wizard Windy Miller puts it, Cunningham, Westwood & a decent centre half and the perspective completely changes.

On the Westwood link (if that's was ever real) there's a lot of talk about compromise on wages scuppering it. Might be true, but perhaps length of contract is going to be an important factor. Clearly he's not going to get anything like the same terms once his contract expires in 12 months, but 2 years at Rovers on a decent wedge (albeit much lower than the 30k he's on) could make a deal much more attractive.

It can go both ways with relegated teams, to be sure. I think I'm thinking back to when we were relegated in 2012, we were picking up good results at the start through teams giving us a bit too much respect & some moments of quality from the players who were up to it; MGP, Rhodes, Gomes etc. Obviously in a couple of months other teams had us sussed & we'd reverted to type! Strange being so gloomy seeing as I think I'd normally be seen a bit happy-clapperish, but I'm a bit taken aback by how many fixtures I'm looking at and thinking they're really tough ones on paper. Hopefully nothing that a brew, goalkeeper and centre half won't solve!

Not sure why we're waiting until Monday if it's reached the point where he's having a medical, but I suppose I shouldn't complain if we're signing an actual grown up goalkeeper.

Hate playing recently relegated/promoted teams that early. Tricky couple of months to navigate before the fixtures get more normal.